We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anio Leaks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anio below.

Anio, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I believe in God’s timing. I believe Ivan and I are here now for a reason and God chose now to be the time for us to shine our light on the world. Funny thing is at times I could be very impatient but with KLQ it’s something I knew when we get the green light it’ll take off and that required patience. KLQ clothing was an idea from 2018, I was working at ADT at the time as a Security Advisor, there were many of us, we didn’t start making moves until 2020 then the pandemic happened but I still had the passion and drive to keep our dream alive, I got their blessing to take full control of KLQ, so I took over and kind of did my own thing and Ivan stood by me. Impatient me wouldn’t have waited so long, I would’ve just made whatever mistakes I needed to make and learned from it to strive to get better but I’m kind of glad it played out the way it did.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Anio Leaks. I was born in Richmond, California on August 8, 1991 moved to Fairfield, California when I was 5 years old. I was back and forth until I was 16 staying with my grandma from time to time. I am One-Half of KLQ (pronounced “click”), I’ve always had an eye for fashion, always loved to standout from the crowd, always loving to take risks. I got into fashion because of my admiration for Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo, he stood on the same principles as me, he was a self-taught, Christian risk taker. He started in his late 30s, me being in my 20s when I discovered him taught me that it wasn’t too late to live out your dreams. Some years later, KLQ forms and that burning passion inside to be great hasn’t stopped.

Why the name KLQ? Well it started back in 2011 at our local community college cafeteria in Fairfield, California. 6 guys with a mutual love for Wrestling, There was a group back in the day that went by “The Kliq” in what is formerly known as the WWF that would go off behind the scenes that we would emulate and shared the same traits as. It stuck with us. Our energy was infectious. It spread across the cafeteria, not that we support this but it got to the point where students were skipping class to be apart of that special aura that followed us wherever we went.

Now over a decade down the line, we start our clothing brand. This time we add someone with the same passion as us. Our long time friend, Ivan Castillo. Unfortunately, after months of grind and preparation, the pandemic hit and schedules became hectic. I still had the burning desire to continue so I asked my brothers for their blessing to keep our dream alive and they gave me full control and Ivan stood by me. To this day, all of us still remain extremely close and will forever be KLQ outside the business.

Our mission remains the same. This time instead of sharing the infectious energy with the cafeteria, KLQ would like to share it with the world. The mission is to inspire the world the same way we found ways to inspire each other. Ivan and I agreed as co-owners, designers, friends, men of the Christian faith and chosen ones, we will spread the “NRG” (energy) with integrity and on everything we love.

The products we provided are with amazing quality, very stylish, very comfortable for our support system. Guaranteed 100% satisfaction!

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

So right now, everything is in house production. We have a heat press machine and we just invested in an embroidery machine Ivan and I are self-taught with the help of some YouTube tutorials lol. We learned our lessons early on from our test runs, we make sure the machines on the correct temperature and the garments are aligned right before pressing. We haven’t looked for a vendor quite yet, we have plans on doing so in the future.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Me and Ivan met in 2010 at City Grace Church in Fairfield. He’s someone that used to pray for me and I shared a lot of moments with there, he’s someone I truly admired and looked up to. It’s amazing how God works because now I’m in business with a man that I trust with my whole heart, a man that’s gonna stand by me and a man I would look up to. Super crazy lol

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theklq.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/klqnrg/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KLQNRG/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@TheKLQ
• Other: TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@theklq

Image Credits
Monique Ivette Photography